SAY NO TO HALLADAY

There are no guarantees in baseball, eating Chinese food and dealing with the IRS. That is why the Phillies should not trade three or four of their top prospects to rent pitching ace Roy Halladay for a season and two months.

Even with Halladay, there is no guarantee that the Phillies will proceed to late October and the World Series, let alone winning another title.

The Phillies already have chemistry, hitting, heart and a decent enough pitching staff that will have them in the running to repeat. Again, does that mean they will will repeat? Absolutely not.

But I see no reason to give up all of that talent on the farm when having Halladay is no guarantee, either. Trade two of the farmhands, maybe. But not three or four.

And unbeaten J.A. Happ no doubt will lose a game this year, but the kid has the right idea when on the mound -- he throws strikes. And that magic potion has rubbed off onto the other starting pitchers.

ELSEWHERE ...

-- Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen are very enjoyable as radio announcers for the Phillies. They have chemistry and they are funny. The other day, though, Franzke said that the Phillies' game at Citizens Bank Park that day was a "complete sellout." As opposed to an incomplete sellout?

-- Old-timer Tom Watson's stunning near-victory at the British Open -- on the heels of last year's near-victory in the same tournament by senior golfer Greg Norman -- leads me to say that golfers might not be athletes. Highly skilled, to be sure, but athletes?

-- Michael Vick will be in an NFL camp in August.

-- Maybe it's me, but when the same guy leads the Tour de France day after day after day, how exciting can that be to the American public?

IronPigs dog Champ catching up on rest

Champ, back home with the IronPigs after a 5-day ordeal, has been busy resting and soaking up attention that the publicity over his disappearance, and eventual return, has brought.

The friendly 4-year-old German shepherd mix, owned by IronPigs director of merchandising Janine Kurpiel, who brings him to work at her office inside the IronPigs' clubhouse store, made news last week when he went missing from Coca-Cola Park during a fireworks display.

He was eventually discovered wandering close to Coca-Cola Park last Wednesday.

Since then, Champ has been catching up on his sleep.

"We both feel asleep early the other night and slept about 13 hours," said Kurpiel this past weekend while working at the Park with Champ by her side. "He's been resting a lot."

Champ has also been getting visits, like Saturday's meeting with Terry and Lori Trumbower of Allentown, who stopped by Coca-Cola Park to greet the dog after helping the search efforts. That's the Trumbowers pictured above on Saturday.

"They were the first people to call and offer to help when they heard the news," said Kurpiel. "And they called every day to talk to me."

"We're just happy she's back home," said Lori.

Kurpiel said that the publicity created by Internet stories on The Morning Call Web site about Champ prompted calls from as far away as North Carolina and Baltimore with people offering their prayers and tips for searching for lost dogs.

Since Champ's return, Kurpiel has even had a proclaimed pet communicator in New York phone in and tell her that Champ had been out in the wild and even met a girlfriend on his travels.

Kurpiel said she has been touched by all the well-wishers, including a group of first-graders at St. Elizabeth Regional school in Whitehall, who wrote letters to her and Champ to say how happy they are that the two are reunited.

Pennsylvania is one of five states to make the finals of ESPN's "Mt. Rushmore of Sports" online voting contest, the network said.

Pennsylvania’s “Mt. Rushmore of Sports” -- Joe Paterno, Wilt Chamberlain, Mario Lemieux and Roberto Clemente – was announced as a finalist this morning during ESPN's SportsCenter show. You don't necessarily have to be a native to make a state's Mt. Rushmore list; only to have played or coached in the state.

I agree that Wilt (pictured at left), JoePa and possibly Lemieux should be on Pennsylvania's Mt. Rushmore. But what about Joe Montana, Arnold Palmer and Joe Frazier? I might have gone with Wilt, JoePa, Montana and Palmer.

Three of the other state finalists are Alabama, California and New York, with the fifth finalist to be announced Friday.

The five finalists were selected through fan voting on ESPN.com, and fans will vote for the overall winner beginning Friday. The winning state will be announced during Tuesday's 6 p.m. SportsCenter broadcast, the network says.

You have to figure California is going to win this contest because of its voter population advantage and with this Mt. Rushmore: Tiger Woods, John Wooden, Jackie Robinson and Magic Johnson. Of the four, Magic is the weak link. Barry Bonds would have been a natural to replace Magic had Bonds not been, uh, unnatural.

New York has Babe Ruth, Joe Namath, Jackie Robinson and Jim Brown, which also is very formidable. Namath is the weak link. He could have been replaced with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Willie Mays, Julius Erving, Lou Gehrig or Sugar Ray Robinson.

We don't know yet the fifth finalist, but Maryland would have a shot if Babe Ruth were on the list. Instead, Maryland has Michael Phelps, Johnny Unitas, Cal Ripken Jr. and Brooks Robinson. Ripken or Robinson should have been replaced by the Babe, a Baltimore native.

Ohio also would have a good chance if Jim Brown were on its Mt. Rushmore. ESPN lists Jesse Owens, Jack Nicklaus, Paul Brown and Woody Hayes for Ohio, which is pretty darn good. But Jim Brown should bump one of the coaches.